Dictionary:

epiphysis

  (ĭ-pĭf'ĭ-sĭs)

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1. The end of a long bone that is originally separated from the main bone by a layer of cartilage but later becomes united to the main bone through ossification.
2. See pineal gland.

[Greek epiphusis, an excrescence : epi-, epi- + phusis, growth.]

The terminal portion of a long bone. The epiphysis is separated from the diaphysis during growth by a cartilaginous zone that serves as a growth center. Once ossification unites the epiphysis with the diaphysis, growth is completed.

The end portion of a long bone. It consists of a thin outer layer of compact bone enclosing spongy bone. The epiphysis ossifies separately from the diaphysis to which it fuses when growth is complete (see ossification).

Pl. epiphyses [Gr.]
1. the end of a long bone, usually wider than the shaft, and either entirely cartilaginous or separated from the shaft by a cartilaginous disk.
2. part of a bone formed from a secondary center of ossification, commonly found at the ends of long bones, on the margins of flat bones, and at tubercles and processes; during the period of growth epiphyses are separated from the main portion of the bone by cartilage.

• e. cerebri — pineal body.

This article is about the rounded end of a bone. For information on the endocrine gland also referred to as epiphysis, see epiphysis cerebri.

Epiphysis
Gray's	subject #17 79
MeSH	Epiphyses
Dorlands/Elsevier	e_12/12338275

Epiphysis is the name for a rounded end of a long bone. The epiphysis is filled with red marrow, which produces erythrocytes, or red blood cells. Located in the epiphysis is the epiphysial plate, also known as the growth plate.

Additional images

Long bone

Longitudinal section of head of left humerus.

Bone and cartilage
Cartilage	chondroblast, chondrocyte, perichondrium, types (hyaline, elastic, fibrous), fibrocartilage callus, metaphysis
Bone	ossification (intramembranous, endochondral, epiphyseal plate), cycle (osteoblast, osteoid, osteocyte, osteoclast), types (cancellous, cortical), regions (epiphysis, metaphysis, diaphysis), structure (osteon/Haversian system, Haversian canals, endosteum, periosteum, Sharpey's fibres, enthesis, lacunae, canaliculi, trabeculae, medullary cavity, bone marrow), shapes (long, short, flat, irregular, sesamoid)

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